What we leave behind
by Malluchan
Summary: What we leave behind can affect us forever...when we return and find only empty shelves and a ghost in the corner where she used to be our hearts are broken. All we can hope to do is build a new structure from the ashes of what we took for granted, but can we find all the pieces?


Ryuto stepped through the streets of Kyoto, completely distracted by the emerging moon rising above him.

Thankfully, it helped bring some peace to his whirling thoughts.

The door to Lara's coffee shop was standing slightly open, allowing the cool pre-autumn breeze to waft through and bring peace to her customers. Aries would be there; Ryuto knew it.

Even in the 2 years before he left, Aries had made her daily visit to the coffee shop after school and could be found there every afternoon, any day; weekday or weekend, from summer to winter. Aries was always there with a laptop or a book.

Make friends, he had told her. Go have a life. He was only worried about her; she looked like an antisocial nerd, cast out of daily school life. He had never meant to offend her.

But Aries was changing, from the sweet strong girl he grew up with to a quiet, withdrawn coffee-drinker who snapped at him whenever he provoked her.

He sighed inwardly at the memory; she was turning out so much like Ryuga.

So he had run.

Every day he had skipped school and hung around the train station, listening to the gossip and news for somewhere he could go. And so, when rumor had come to him of treasure in the east, he had left Kyoto without a second thought.

He regretted that now.

The coffee shop seemed cozily quiet in the waning hours of the evening. Aries often stayed here late, doing research or something; she never had told him what she did on that computer.

He turned towards the corner she occupied in all his memories, fully expecting the same black-haired girl of his memories to be sitting there. But the corner was completely empty; despite the popularity of KyotoLara coffee, everyone shied away from it as though a ghost resided there. A ghost of the past.

Ryuto stayed long into the hours of dark, riding on only the hope that she would show. But Aries' bright golden eyes never appeared through the star-studded darkness, and so he went back to his camp for the night.

* * *

Ryuto returned early the next morning. It was summer; if she still came here at all, she would be here as soon as the shop opened. But there was no sign of Aries that day, or the next.

On the 5th day of his hope-born stakeout, Lara herself came to the door.

"Hey there, funny-lookin'-boy. Whatcha doin' hangin' around here at the door, all the time, huh?"

"I'm only waiting for my sister", Ryuto explained with no enthusiasm.

"What'ser name, huh?"

"Aries", he replied, with equal flatness. The only way to get Lara to leave you alone was to bore her to death.

"Oooohh...Ariiieeesss?" Lara drew her name out in an annoyingly long and careless way.

"Yes", answered Ryuto, unable to block the annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Weeelll...I dunno if it's the same Arrriieeees...but there's a girl of the name, who lives upstairs in the apartment...guess she hung 'round here so much she just decided ta up'n take residence."

"Really? What does she look like?" Ryuto turned, interested now.

"Well, if I can rememberrrr...she has loooong hair in front, 'n short hair in back...and the most unnervin' eyebaawwls. Ah swear they creep into mah nightmares once'n a while, like the could seeeee through yer _sooooouuuullll."_

Lara, even in her best efforts to creep Ryuto out, could not get near humoring him.

"Ok, thanks. I am going to check it out now."

"Okaaayyy, glad ah could be of serviiiiice! Oh..and a warnin...before yah go up there..."

Ryuto half turned on the doorstep of the coffee shop, annoyed. "What?"

"She's kinda gotta temper...yah better watch out or that lil' metal top thinga hers'l cutcher lil' head right off, funny-lookin-boy. Ah swear it near gave me an untimely haircut and mah hair's been scared tah grow since then...just in July, it was..."

Ryuto sighed mentally and traversed the steps, leaving Lara to jabber on about her hair as if somebody was listening.

At the top of the stairs on a narrow landing stood a solitary oak door, bearing the scratches and wear worth of years.

Ryuto knocked at the door tentatively, and then louder. Inside the apartment, Aries Montague lifted one headphone indifferently. Sure enough, somebody was knocking.

From outside the door, Ryuto heard a listless "What?" Her voice held no emotion, no illusion of caring. It brought tears to Ryuto's eyes to hear his little sister, once so sweet and carefree, weighed down as if with all the troubles of the world. The voice was nearly unrecognizable as her own.

He rested his head against the rough oak door and called out, "Aries, it's me. Ryuto."

Aries looked up from the table and turned her head to the door, a rare moment of interest coming into her dull life.

Ryuto's voice shook as he spoke.

"Aries?"

"Yes. It's me. What do you want?"

Her voice, listless again. This time it took him a moment to gather his feelings together without collapsing in a sobbing heap on the stairwell.

"Aries, may I come in?"

"Why did you come back, Ryuto?" Aries answered indifferently, turning her attention back to the book in her hand.

"What do you mean, why did I come back?" This time the shaking was out of his control. "I came back because you're my sister."

"I didn't think that mattered to you anymore."

Her words stung, flat and blunt as they were. It brought both a fresh wave of emotions and the true momentum of the past two years crashing down on him at the same time.

"Aries, we can't have a proper conversation through the door", he whispered.

Aries, who would have preferred a peaceful afternoon with her Lemony Snicket and no more worries about her brothers, pretended not to hear.

"Aries?"

"Why should I let you in? You'll only leave again," came her muffled response.

"Aries", he pleaded. "It wasn't what you thought it was."

"You mean NOT SAYING GOODBYE!?"

Great. The only emotion she could show for him was pure and undiluted rage.

"Aries", he murmured through gritted teeth. "Let me in or I'll knock this door down with my blade."

"Ryuto Montague, you wouldn't," she hissed. "I spent a month's worth of scholarship money on that door."

"Then I guess you'll just have to let me in."

Aries sighed and slipped the headset down around her neck, lay the book on the table. "Just come in, it's unlocked."

A teary-eyed Ryuto opened the door and shut it quietly behind him, not quite prepared for what he would see.

Aries knelt at the low table in the back of the apartment, her once-dazzled eyes now dull and dark. She had allowed her hair to grow longer, the black tails in the front now reaching past her waist, and the hair in the back shagging down to her shoulder blades. She had grown from the lanky 13-year-old he knew and loved to a tall, slender girl of 15.

He knelt at the table across from her and she fixed him with a piercing stare. At a loss for what to say, all he could manage was a shaky "Hi, sis."

It was a mistake. But rather than explode with unhidden rage and wrecking her apartment, unbearable sadness filled his little sister's eyes.

"'Hi, sis'? That's all you can manage? After two years gone, with no news from you whatsoever?"

Aries's voice wavered at the end and petered out like a candle flame.

"I'm sorry I left without telling you. It was the worst mistake I've made in my life", Ryuto answered, defeated now. For the past 2 years all he'd thought about was finding a new life for himself. Aries and Ryuga hadn't crossed hid mind until he ran into Gingka Hagane. He found it impossible that it took so long to bring him back to his senses.

"And why did you leave in the first place?" Aries turned her attention away from him. Anywhere away. She fingered the pages of her book distractedly, waiting for his answer. Bracing herself inwardly.

And so Ryuto began his story.

"I left because things were going downhill. Ryuga wouldn't talk to us, he was gone all night and slept all day...it didn't seem like we were a family anymore.

"You were listless. You used to have fun with your friends but then you stopped...all you did was sit all day and read books...you would snap at me when I tried to talk to you.

"I lost my first bey, and you stopped battling. Ryuga started terrorizing people and yelling at us...I had to get away, Aries. I'm sorry.

"I thought only of myself and hopped on the first train to the east. I hunted for treasure in the ruins of old temples and you didn't cross my mind until about 2 months ago...I met Gingka Hagane and he reminded me of Ryuga. It was then that I realized I needed to come home."

Aries looked up at him with wet eyes. "It's all right, Ryuto. I've felt like running myself a lot these days..."

Ryuto stood, and so did she. Soon enough the siblings were wrapped in a passionate hug.

Ryuto let go of her.

"Speaking of Ryuga...where is he?" His eyes were filled with concern now. Their older brother had turned into sort of a messed-up kid. Had he been hurting her? Driven her out of the house, forcing her to take refuge in this small apartment above a coffee shop?

Aries turned her head as if she had been slapped, a tear slipping down her cheek. Ryuto had reopened wounds she had shoved to the back of her mind and hoped to never feel again.

"What's wrong?" Ryuto persisted.

Aries finally turned to look at him, the painful truth spilling out like a waterfall. Though Ryuto was closer to her age, she had been closer to Ryuga. He had always been there to look out for her. His leaving had hurt her more than anything.

"After you left, things just went downhill more than ever...he was gone all day as well as all night. When I questioned him or talked to him, he ignored me or snapped at me. Finally one day I broke..."

She paused to get her mind together. The memory of that day had remained clear in her mind as if it had happened only yesterday...

* * *

Ryuga walked into the apartment in a dark mood and plopped onto the couch, turning on the TV without a word. Not a hello. Not a single sound.

Aries felt anger well up inside of her. She marched over to the couch and stood stiffly until he noticed her.

"What?"

Aries felt her mind explode.

"YOU NEED TO GET A JOB, RYUGA!"

Ryuga's eyes opened wide and he stood suddenly. "WHAT did you just say?" But even his head-higher advantage could not intimidate her now.

"All you do is sit here, that is, when you're even home, and leave me to pay rent and bills on my hard-earned scholarship money! You need to help support this family, Ryuga! Ryuto's gone, and you're the only person left that I can count on! DON'T YOU EVEN CARE!?"

Undiluted rage filled Ryuga's expression, and he blew up.

"I NEVER ASKED TO HAVE TO CARE! I NEVER ASKED FOR OUR PARENTS TO DIE AND LEAVE ME ALONE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU AND RYUTO! **AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET!? _GET A_ JOB!?"**

Aries opened her mouth to object, but her older brother cut her off.

"You're old enough to take care of yourself now! Ryuto's already realized that. I've gotten you this far. You're on your own."

The next morning she woke up and Ryuga was gone.

* * *

"He never came back", she finished with a sigh.

"Have you at least heard something from him?"

"The last I heard was from a boy named Kenta who came to the door and told me he had disappeared. He thought I should know. He also told me that Ryuga will likely return somewhere and that the WBBA is keeping an eye out for him."

Ryuto stood immediately. "I'm going to look for him."

Aries stood up frantically. "What? But...you just got here..."

"Aries, I came here because I realized I needed to come back to my family. And I will not rest until we're all back together again."


End file.
